"How Do You Say" in Spanish

Quick Answer

How do you say in Spanish is translated as ¿Como se dice…?Read on to find out more useful ways to ask someone how something is said or written!

How Do You Say in Spanish: Translation

Let’s start with the basics: How do you say…? in Spanish is translated as ¿Cómo se dice…? Let’s look at a few ways we can use this phrase in context:

examples
¿Cómo se dice “I really like cheese” en español? How do you say “I really like cheese” in Spanish?
¿Cómo se dice “bienvenido” en alemán? How do you say “welcome” in German?
¿Cómo se dice “enfermo” en inglés? How do you say “enfermo” in English?

Remember: The names of languages and nationalities are not capitalized in Spanish. Review the rules of capitalization in Spanish with this article!

Other Ways to Say How Do You Say in Spanish

¿Cómo se dice…? is not the only way to ask how to say something in Spanish. Let’s check out some of the other ways we can ask how to say or write something in English or Spanish!

Spanish	English
¿Cómo se deletrea…?	How do you spell…?
¿Cómo se escribe…?	How do you spell…?
¿Qué quiere decir…?	What does…mean?
¿Qué significa…?	What does…mean?

How can we use these questions in context? Let’s take a look!

examples
¿Cómo se deletrea “Popocatépetl”? How do you spell “Popocatépetl”?
¿Qué quiere decir la palabra “sobremesa”? What does the word “sobremesa” mean?
¿Qué significa esta palabra? What does this word mean?

How Do You Say in Spanish: Translating Say

You might think that how do you say in Spanish is always translated as cómo se dice. If only it were that simple! The translation for say can change depending on what is being said. For example:

Spanish	English
¿Cómo das las gracias?	How do you *say thank you*?
¿Cómo se dan las gracias?	How do you *say thank you*?
¿Cómo te despides?	How do you *say goodbye*?
¿Cómo se despide uno?	How do you *say goodbye*?
¿Cómo pides perdón?	How do you *say you’re sorry*?
¿Cómo se pide perdón?	How do you *say you’re sorry*?
¿Cómo saludas?	How do you *say hello*?
¿Cómo se saluda?	How do you *say hello*?

Let’s see how we can use these expressions in a conversation:

Armando:

Lorena, hablas inglés, ¿verdad? ¿Cómo se saluda a un médico en Canadá?

Lorena, you speak English, right? How do you say hello to a doctor in Canada?

Lorena:

Le puedes decir algo sencillo cómo “Buenos días, Dr. Trudeau”.

You can say something simple like “Good morning, Dr. Trudeau.”

Armando:

¿Y cómo te despides de un médico?

And how do you say goodbye to a doctor?

Lorena:

Le puedes decir “adiós”.

You can say “goodbye.”

Armando:

De acuerdo. Ahora, mi última pregunta, te lo prometo. ¿Cómo se pide perdón a un jefe en español?

OK. Now, this is my last question, I promise. How do you apologize to your boss in Spanish?

Lorena:

Bueno, eso depende de lo que has hecho, Armando. ¿Qué pasó?

Well, that depends on what you did, Armando. What happened?

Speaking of say… Just how does one talk about talking in Spanish? Read up on hablar(to speak/to talk), decir(to say/to tell), and contar(to tell/to narrate) with this article.

Is this a lot to remember? We get it! Remember that if you use a word-to-word translation and say, for example, ¿Cómo se dice hola a un profesor?, people will understand what you are asking. However, it’s not going to sound as natural as ¿Cómo se saluda a un profesor?

Now that you’re a pro at asking how to say things in Spanish, be sure to check out the following articles!